


Wild

by tsubasafan, Zelinxia



Series: And Until the End [4]
Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Horseback Riding, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsubasafan/pseuds/tsubasafan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelinxia/pseuds/Zelinxia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurogane teaches Fai to ride horses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wild

Title: Wild  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Kurogane teaches Fai to ride horses. kidfic  
Note: Written by both me and Zelinxia. This takes place while they are still kids.

\--

It was just turning to summer in Suwa Province and Fai had been with them for a short while. Kurogane had grown more attached to the boy as the days wore on, and in turn the blond felt the same. The young lord had taken it upon himself to make sure Fai knew everything there was to be known about his new home and they had already finished trying to climb trees for the day.

"Come on, there's something else you should learn to do, too!"

Fai wiped his brows that were drenched in sweat. He still wasn't used to the summer heat and what's worse was that it hadn't been the hottest Suwa had experienced yet. Plus he was mildly exhausted after Kurogane had boisterously insisted he learned how to climb trees. Not that Fai didn't mind at all because he actually liked how Kurogane was being so nice and friendly to him, showing him around the place. It made him sincerely want to be as energetic as his friend. "What now?"

"We're going to the stables." Kurogane smiled as he grabbed his friend's hand and tugged him along the far side of the palace grounds where the horses were kept.

Fai yelped. He should be used to his friend's propensity to be so spontaneous with whatever they should do next and grabbing him, but he was always surprised. "To the horses?"

"Yeah, you have to learn how to ride them eventually!" He grinned as they rounded the corner of the palace that led to the stables. Suwa relied heavily on horses to get around, especially Kurogane's father who had to travel across the province to help the small villages and towns. As such, some of the best lines in Nihon were from the stables here and Kurogane loved to ride whenever he could.

"We're going to ride horses?" Fai asked incredulously. He remembered the last time he was on a horse he had sat behind Kurogane on the journey home from the capital. It wasn't an entirely pleasant experience.

"Yeah the yearlings were broken in a few weeks ago so they should be good to try out and if not then there's my horse or one of the older ones," Kurogane said as they passed by a few stable hands who smiled and bowed at the towy boys. They went into the stables where paddocks lined both sides. Several of the horses had already been led out to the various pastures beyond the palace grounds, but there were others being groomed and fed inside.

Fai eyed each and every one of the horses inside of the stable cautiously. He could already feel his stomach dropping from feeling nervous. "Shouldn't we do it tomorrow?"

"Why tomorrow?" Kurogane said as he let go of Fai's hand and went over to a small bay horse that had its head sticking out of its stall. He scratched its muzzle. "You don't want to?" He frowned a little, confused as to why anyone wouldn't want to try.

Kurogane seemed so excited about teaching him how to ride a horse and he couldn't bear to make his friend upset. "Well…" Fai scuffled his feet on the dirt. "We played a lot already today. Shouldn't we wash up and relax before dinner?"

"We still have a while before that." Kurogane left the first horse and went to another. The chestnut horse gleamed in the light that filtered into the building and Kurogane opened its stall as he grabbed a rope to tie onto its bridle. The filly came out willingly, head lowered as it  
sniffed the boy for food. "You can try this one. She's one of the new ones."

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, Fai hoped. He went up to the filly and tried to be as confident as he could. A hand tentatively extended towards her muzzle. "May I?" he asked.

Ears pinned forward as the horse inspected Fai as well. The horse raised its head and nickered loudly before Kurogane pushed against her to turn the young horse in the proper direction. "I'll help you up if you want and I can lead her around until you feel better and ready."

"I'd like that," Fai said.

After Kurogane retrieved other equipment the two of them headed out of the stable with her. He had thrown a simple blanket over the horse to make Fai comfortable before he helped him step up and onto the horse that moved a little hesitantly in place. Kurogane was quick to calm the filly down. "Hold on with your legs, but don't squeeze too hard and hold onto her mane."

The blond did as he was told, trying not to notice just how far he was from the ground. It was certainly a different experience since Kurogane was still on the ground and not sitting in front of him like all those other times. His friend led them out and into the yard. "Don't get nervous or else you'll scare the horse," he warned, knowing Fai was being reluctant but he was at least trying.

"Right," Fai confirmed, gulping. He could trust Kurogane. He knew his friend wouldn't do something mean and let him on his own too soon or scare the horse.

Kurogane walked them around the stable, waiting for Fai to get used to the motions of the horse. This went on for several minutes until he thought Fai was ready. He stopped the horse and tied his end of the rope onto the horse's bridle to make reins for Fai. "Now hold onto this and flick it. She'll walk for you."

"Will this hurt her at all?" Fai asked. He was concerned about hurting this horse that so far had been very nice to him.

"Nope, the horse barely feels it unless you start tugging hard," he explained as he moved out of the animal's way.

"Oh good. I'd hate to hurt her," Fai admitted. Taking the makeshift reins form Kurogane he flicked it. But it was a too soft attempt because nothing happened at all. At the patient command to try again, Fai did and slowly but surely she started walking again. Kurogane watched them, feeling proud of his friend. The others stopped to watch as well, admiring how the blond was taking up to riding.

"Am I doing it right?"

"Yeah, you're doing great!" Kurogane was half tempted to get his own horse out to ride alongside Fai.

"Do I just keep riding around the stable?" he asked, unsure what to do on his own without his friend always at his side. He wished Kurogane would ride along with him.

"You can direct her wherever, just gently pull on the reins whichever way you want to turn!" he shouted back before he darted inside the stable to get his own horse. The temptation now was too strong to resist.

"Ah, wait!" Fai yelled after seeing his fiery friend bolting back to the stable and leaving him unaccompanied. He sighed and turned to face forward again. Well, seeing that all was going well so far, he thought about taking him and the horse towards a patch of flowers to their right. He then tilted the reins in that direction. The horse's head turned to the right and shook its head as it snorted. However, the filly remained standing, not taking Fai's orders.

"Oh, uh…" Fai lifted the rein again and flung it down to move her. "Go," he pleaded.

The horse neighed and pinned her ears back, but still didn't move. Why wasn't she moving? Fai didn't want to get too worried because Kurogane had after all told him to remain calm otherwise she would panic as well and run for it. But what else could he do? "Come on…" he said, his voice trembling as he proceeded to flick the reins again. "Come on…"

The horse took a few steps back then before she shook her head. Another horse neighed loudly along with several loud voices which startled the newly trained horse and caused her to leap forward and start through the yard at a decent trot.

"Atta girl," Fai found himself saying, feeling much more confident in his abilities now. If this kept going well then soon he would be able to ride on his own horse and travel to places with Kurogane on their spare time.

The horse went nowhere in particular, ears flicking towards any movement and noise before unexpectedly she began to pick up the pace and started to run. Fear instantly kicked in and Fai automatically held on tighter to the horse. He yelled at her to stop immediately but she didn't pay heed to his command at all. A few groomsmen and stable hands tried to catch the horse but to no avail. They did manage, however, to keep it within the area of the stables instead of out towards the gardens or courtyard.

"Fai-kun!" Kurogane shouted. He had just bolted out on his own horse. He pushed on it to try to catch up to Fai.

Fai heard his friend yelling after him, but right now he still couldn't feel relieved. His body and mind was still heightened from the fear of being bucked off and he was blindly holding on, not knowing what to do at all. All he knew was that he was starting to scream. Kurogane rode up to Fai's side and leaned over to grab hold of Fai's horse's reins to try and make the animal stop. Taking hold of it, Kurogane let the horses run around the yard until eventually they came to a slow walk and finally stopped. Others came up to them as well, taking the horses after Kurogane hopped off his own and helped Fai down from his.

"Are you alright?" Kurogane didn't know what he would do if Fai was somehow injured or scarred from the ordeal.

Fai had to firmly remind himself that he was now standing on the ground and that he wasn't hurt and that Kurogane was also there for him, as always. He bit his lip, not wanting to cry at all and worry his friend even more But before he knew it, his body betrayed him and a whimper came out.

Kurogane excused the others around them and pulled Fai away from all the noise they had caused. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have let you ride by yourself!"

Fai didn't know what to feel or what to say. So instead he closed his eyes and ended up pounding his fist on Kurogane's chest, still feeling scared and upset and even mad. Kurogane grabbed the other's shoulders immediately, looking worried. "We don't have to do that ever again Fai-kun."

"I…" Fai tried to whack Kurogane again but found that he couldn't. "I don't want to!" he blurted out.

"I said we don't," Kurogane yelped. He winced at Fai, not used to hearing him be so loud.

The other nodded numbly, struggling to breathe properly. Fai knew that learning to ride a horse wouldn't be so good today, but he didn't expect it to turn out to be that scary. "I-I told you so," he said weakly.

"Sorry. We can go and get some candy if you want." He tried to think of something that Fai would like and sweets were usually the go-to-thing.

"O-okay," he accepted.

Kurogane grabbed Fai's hand and smiled, doing his best to make him feel better and letting him know things would be alright. "Let's go! Chichiue gave me a few coins we can spend."

"We still have time?" Fai asked, wondering if it was alright for them to head out again.

"We do if we run." Grinning Kurogane was glad to see that Fai was feeling a little better.

"You still have energy?" He asked incredulously. Well, Kurogane was really nice and really wanted to make amends to Fai for what happened.

"Of course." Kurogane smirked as he pulled Fai along. One day he would have to get Fai to try and train more with him so he could keep up. Fai shook his head, wondering what it was that Kurogane possessed that could make him so…upbeat.

They eventually made it into the city and returned with a small pouch filled to the brim with various candies. "You better hide them in your room. If my parents find you've got candy they'll both scold us for spoiling dinner."

"Okay," Fai understood completely, nodding. He and Kurogane then tiptoed to Fai's room where they could go in and stash away his sweets.

"There you two are! I heard about the racket down at the stables." Kurogane nearly jumped when he heard his father. Luckily Fai had already hidden away his candy. "You really could have hurt Fai-kun, letting him ride a horse that had just barely been broken in. If he wants to ride again, ask for one of the stablemen to help pick one of the gentler and older horses," he scolded rather firmly, yet gently.

Kurogane nodded. "Well…but he says he doesn't want to ride again," he said.

"He will have to learn. Just because it was one bad experience doesn't mean it is all bad. Now you two go wash up for dinner," he told both of them. Kurogane looked back to Fai before he left his friend's room, passing by his father as well.

Fai quickly looked away, pretending that he hadn't heard Kurogane's father reprimanding his friend at all. He wasn't sure if he could ride a horse again, at least not too soon.

"Go along Fai-kun, and don't worry. I'm not angry at either of you. Just worried." He smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. Fai nodded and left his room as well. "And tell Kurogane no more tree climbing either!" the lord called after the boy.

Fai had to laugh along the way to the bathhouse to join Kurogane to wash up. Of course the lord would say something like that. By the time he arrived, his friend was already scrubbing his face clean. He was upset at being scolded, but knew he had deserved it.

"Hey," Fai greeted. He went to gather his own supply too and started scrubbing himself.

"Hello…" Kurogane frowned, thinking Fai was probably still upset.

He might as well bring it up now. "Um…your dad said not to climb trees anymore."

"He's always saying that. He just doesn't want you climbing them," Kurogane replied, knowing Fai might get hurt if he did.

"Oh." Fai was actually touched that the lord was watching out for him as if he was a blood son, but he still wasn't entirely sure how to deal with the fact just how much Kurogane's parents were caring for him. "So if I can't climb them then Kuro-kun can't either!"

"Not like I do it a lot!" he countered, embarrassed.

"I know," Fai said, laughing. He knew things would be alright if Kurogane could easily get riled up.

Kurogane blushed at being laughed at, but finished cleaning himself off for dinner. Once he and Fai were done washing themselves they made a dash to the dining room where the lord and lady were patiently waiting, even though food had already been served on the table. They both apologized before they began eating. After dinner Kurogane excused him while Fai did the same. The young lord was still feeling guilty and was surprised that Fai still wanted to hang around him.

They were now in Fai's room. Fai immediately went to his drawers where he had hid his sweets and took several out. "Want one?" he asked Kurogane.

"I don't like candy," he replied. He had only bought the stuff to try to make amends.

"A shame," Fai said in slight exasperation. "Kuro-pon is missing out!"

He made a face at that idea. "I doubt it." Kurogane watched his friend enjoying his candy and frowned. "Fai-kun…you're not mad or anything, are you?"

Fai finished off another piece in delight. "About earlier today?" he asked for clarification.

"Yeah."

He thought about it. "Well…I was mad earlier. But..." Fai looked down at the remaining sweets in his hand. "I know Kuro-kun meant well to teach me how to ride horses."

"If you ever want to try again, I'll ask Chichiue to help," Kurogane said, looking sheepish. Fai could have been killed today and the mere thought terrified him, especially since it was his idea in the first place.

"Sounds good," Fai said. It was rather amazing how calm he was now in spite of the truly frightening ordeal. But still, he couldn't just let Kurogane get away with what happened, even though he forgave his friend for the most part. "But Kuro-kun was still bad."

The other boy openly lowered his head in shame.

"So therefore, I demand you eat candy as punishment."

"I'm not eating a lot of it," he protested, feeling uneasy at the prospect. But if that's what Fai wanted he would accept it.

"Kay, how 'bout just one?"

"Fine." He took an offered candy and reluctantly ate it. His teeth and taste buds hurt from all the sugar and Kurogane all but moped as he swallowed the confectionary.

"Open your mouth and stick out your tongue," Fai demanded. "I want to make sure you eat it all."

Kurogane blew a raspberry at the boy instead. "I did eat it and it was awful!"

Fai laughed. "But Kuro-sour ate it, so I forgive you." He went over and lightly patted his friend on the back to let him know that all was well between them.

Kurogane scowled half-heartedly. "Let's go do something fun then instead of eating candy."

That certainly perked up Fai. "Like what?" Something not dangerous, he hoped.

"I don't know. We can find a game, I guess," he said, not sure what they wouldn't end up getting them in trouble now, but they would find something.

"I think I should pick. Kuro-bossy has been choosing what to do all day long," Fai said.

"Then let's go!" He grabbed Fai's hand and pulled him out into the hallway. Kurogane was glad that Fai wasn't mad at him anymore and wondered if the blond would ever take up riding in the future despite the accident today.

"Still bossy!" Fai complained, but grinned nonetheless. Yes, everything would be fine.


End file.
